Zilphy I. (Long) LEKWA

LEWWA, LONG, LILLIBRIDGE, MATZEN, HAWKINS, PRESTHOLT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/13/2013 at 14:26:29

June 26, 1910 --- September 28, 1994

Zilphy I. Lekwa, 84, Mena, Ark., formerly of Clear Lake, died Wednesday, Sept. 28, 1994, at the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas. Memorial services were held Sunday, Oct. 2, at the First Christian Church in Mena, Ark., where she was a member. Burial was in the Clear Lake Cemetery by her husband Nels Lekwa.

Zilphy was born June 26, 1910, in Mason City, Iowa, the daughter of Frank S. Long and Wilmie (nee) Lillibridge Long. They moved to Clear Lake from a farm north of Clear Lake in 1928. She graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1928. Zilphy worked for many years at the Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company. On Feb. 4, 1944, she married Nels H. Lekwa, at San Francisco, Calif. After her husbands release from the Navy they moved to Clear Lake, a few months before moving to Oregon where their son, Larry, was born in 1946. They ed to Iowa shortly after where they lived in various places while Nels did carpenter work. They moved back to Clear Lake in 1947, and for 16 years following were in the summer cottage business. They moved to Hereford, Texas in 1975 and to Mena, Ark. in 1979. She made her home with her son, Larry and his wife, Alta Matzen Lekwa.

Zilphy and her husband were active Christians, beginning the Church of Christ along with others in 1953, where they were charter members. She was an avid correspondent with many missionaries of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. She wrote poetry and had a number of poems published. She received the (Honored Servant Award) in 1987 at the Arkansas Christian Convention. She taught many children the Bible during the years and had charge of the Christian Endeavor Youth of the First Christian Church in Clear Lake for a number of years.

She is survived by her son Larry Lekwa and his wife, Alta Lekwa, Fayetteville, Ark.; two sisters, Rachel Hawkins, St. Louis, Minn., Ellen Prestholt, Hanlontown, Iowa; two grandchildren, Andrew Lekwa and his wife, Alana Lekwa, Fayetteville, Ark., Kelly Lekwa, Hot Springs, Ark. She was preceded in death by her husband, Nels Lekwa in 1982; two brothers, Robert A. Long in 1982, and Frank I. Long in 1967.

Clear Lake Mirror Reporter - Iowa
October 1994